Friday, March 27, 2015

Getting from Point A to Point B with Bruce Rauner

Cousin
Brucie is at it again.

His
latest proposal to alleviate Illinois' budget crisis is to gut
government subsidies to mass transit, including the Chicago Transit
Authority, Metra and the Regional Transit Authority up to
sixty-percent.

Despite
my fondness for public transportation, I'll be the first to admit
these bodies suffer undue difficulty in making ends meet, even as
they enjoy large-market monopolies as providers of their respective
forms of transportation.

But crippling them isn't the answer.

All
three agencies have warned that deep service cuts and steep fare
hikes loom if these suggestions are enacted.

And
that, of course, is the operative word—enacted.

This
could be nothing more than a political maneuver, a red herring meant
to divert attention. Or a stratagem designed to scare constituents
and make whatever budget cuts follow appear benign by comparison.

It
could also be a genuine expression of contempt for what Rauner has
repeatedly called “the welfare state” of public transportation in
Illinois. Of course, in light of his stated goal of creating jobs and
bringing business to Illinois, it's a curious beginning.

Chicago-area
job postings regularly make mention of a maximum distance the
successful applicant will reside from the job, an obvious cop to the
outrageous congestion and commuting times which plague the
metropolitan area.

It's
hard to see how making a potential labor pool less—and not
more—mobile, increasing, rather than decreasing, commuter's
reliance on cars and adding to the burden already shouldered by
Illinois' brittle motor vehicle infrastructure will improve anything, aside from
spiking gasoline tax revenues.

It's
also difficult to walk away without feeling that while Cousin Brucie
may well want to make Illinois business-friendly and create jobs, he's not quite so interested in people actually getting to
them.